Grumpy Grampa: “Teach itself how to interpret butt odors? Ridiculous! Why do you read such crap?”

Little Dog: “Haha. And smelly crap at that, eh Gramps?”

GG: “Huh?”

Little Dog: “Just kidding. And listen to this. It gets even more interesting. Evidently the designers are really worried. The butt-sniffing machine has a lot of complex programming to help interpret the nuances of butt odors. But the designers are worried about the self-teaching aspect. What would happen if their creation becomes better at butt-sniffing than dogs themselves? What if it decides to take over the world and prevent real dogs from sniffing butts? What a disaster!”

GG: “My paw pads are quivering with fright. Why do you bother me with this rubbish? How could these butt-sniffing machines take over DogWorld?”

Little Dog: “Well, the article says that they might just keep teaching themselves new stuff, to the point where they could become infinitely more intelligent than us. They could become better squirrel trackers, for instance. Then they could catch all the squirrels, and cause a starvation crisis! Sounds pretty serious.”

GG: “Well, I’ll keep sniffing my own butts, thank you. And as far as worrying about butt-sniffing machines taking over the world, I won’t be losing any sleep over it.”

Little Dog: “Oh, Gramps. Always the skeptic. The world is changing, you know. Technology marches on!”